NHS IT comes under academic spotlight

‘Concerns’ lead to call for review

A “dossier of concerns” has been drawn up by a group of academics calling for a technical review of the National Health Service programme for IT (NPfIT).

Brian Randell, Emeritus professor of Computing Science at Newcastle University has led the initiative in advance of a parliamentary Select Committee due to begin next month into the many problems that have dogged the largest ever public sector IT project.

Randell first raised his concerns about the £6-billion programme, following issues with key outsourcing suppliers that saw Accenture pull out and GP software developer iSoft face major financial probes. The NHS itself has also been dogged by debt in the meantime.

Randell said he would like to see a review of the implementation itself and objectives.